Newsletter for Wednesday, Oct 12 2016

INSTAGRAM OF THE DAY

PA SEES RECORD NUMBERS IN LAST-MINUTE VOTER REGISTRATION

Yesterday was the last day Pennsylvanians could register to vote, and thousands did just that. By mid-day yesterday, 23,000 applications had been filed, following a Monday with a record-number of 77,000 online applications. In the last three weeks, some 300,000 Pennsylvanians have registered. Philadelphia has seen a surge in the last-minute, too: The elections office received between 25,000 and 30,000 paper applications on Monday and Tuesday. Overall, Pennsylvania now has about 100,000 more registered Republicans in 2012 and 100,000 fewer Democrats than in 2012, but Democrats still outnumber Republicans by nearly one million.

WHY HARRISBURG’S TAKING *FOREVER* TO LEGALIZE UBERX, LYFT IN PHILLY

Pennsylvania House leadership is confident a bill will pass that finally legalizes UberX and Lyft in the City of Philadelphia, permanently. In fact, Steve Miskin, the spokesperson for the House Republican Caucus, tells Billy Penn they are hopeful a vote will take place next week, when the House gets back in session. That timetable sounds amazing for any Philadelphian who’s tired of — technically! — breaking the law to get an easy, cheap ride. But it’s only believable if the legislature and ride-sharing lobbyists are finally finished with a year’s worth of dissecting and amending what should be the rare bipartisan slam dunk. Here’s the holdup.

BILLY PENN LIKES

MEET THE MT. AIRY GUY BEHIND BASEBALL-REFERENCE.COM

For more than a decade and a half, the answer to everything from bar trivia to serious arguments for baseball writers and fans of America’s pastime has been Baseball Reference. Created by a former St. Joe’s professor who started the stat-centric site 16 years ago, as he calls it, for fun, Baseball Reference has become a vital resource for everyone who covers the game, or simply loves its history. Meet Mt. Airy’s Sean Forman. He’s got a neat story.

DONALD TRUMP CONFUSES EAT ‘N PARK, SMILEY COOKIES

Like many candidates, Donald Trump has spent some parts of his campaign stopping by local food institutions in the places where he’s stumping. That means he got a cheesesteak from Geno’s in Philly and, true to Western PA form, he went to get a Smiley Cookie (yes, that’s the name of something, and it’s trademarked) while he was outside Pittsburgh this week. After Trump left town, a post appeared on his Facebook page: “Stopped by Smiley Cookie to pick up some great cookies for the family, along with Rudy [Giuliani].” Wait, what?